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One-way system fails to ease congestion

HOLD-UP REMAINS: A scene at the Kammala Street junction in Kancheepuram.

V. Venkatasubramanian

Kammala Street junction is full of traffic bottlenecks

KANCHEEPURAM: The Kammala Street junction continues to be full of traffic bottlenecks in spite of the one-way system implemented on the four `Raja Veedhis’ in Kancheepuram town.

Picking up and dropping passengers by share-autorickshaws, mini-buses and State Transport Corporation buses near the junction have led to frequent hold-ups even though police constables have been posted at the junction of Kammala Street (popularly known as Chennai Road) and North Raja Veedhi (known as Senkazhuneerodai Veedhi) for almost 18 hours in a day to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.

Public carrier operators seldom respect the directions issued to them by police constables as they claim that vehicles are stopped near this junction in view of the public demand though they are supposed to halt their vehicles at the ‘official’ Kammala Street bus stop on the Chennai Road near Pachaivannar temple.

Further, vehicular traffic coming into and out of the town through this junction gets affected whenever heavy vehicles — both passenger or commercial vehicles — try to pass through this junction to reach the Chennai-Bangalore National Highway through Ponnerikarai.

These vehicles ply on the extreme right side of the carriageway (on Sengazhuneerodai Veedhi if they want to move out of the town or on the Chennai Road if they want to enter the town) so that the drivers could take left turn without much difficulty. Thus, other are forced to halt a few meters away from the junction for a few minutes and then resume their journey, sources said.